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Panda blue 483 Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Type of usage in this example?

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/182718/correct-usage-of-en-dash-em-dash-in-this-example?noredirect=1#comment362471_182718


So in this question there is a long sentence connected with 3 em-dashes . How does this usage differ from a standard paragraph of writing. It was 'wrongly' viewed as three 'separate sentences' linked together. I can't see it otherwise: it does look to me like three sentences joined with 3 dashes.

Are we just saying 'thematically' it is a continuation of the same idea hence it's connected up.

Is this sort of usage common?

  

Top answer

panda blue 483 It was 'wrongly' viewed as three 'separate sentences' linked together. Jason was merely pointing out that as it stands, it is one long sentence. A sentence invariably ends with one of three marks of punctuation—a period (full stop), an exclamation point, or a question mark.

— Anonymous

  • panda blue 483 It was 'wrongly' viewed as three 'separate sentences' linked together.
  • Jason was merely pointing out that as it stands, it is one long sentence.
  • A sentence invariably ends with one of three marks of punctuation—a period (full stop), an exclamation point, or a question mark.
  • And you are right, it should be three sentences, and that is why each one should end with a period and start with a capital letter.
  • The so-called sentence as it stands is a shambles.
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2 Answers
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panda blue 483It was 'wrongly' viewed as three 'separate sentences' linked together.

Jason was merely pointing out that as it stands, it is one long sentence. A sentence invariably ends with one of three marks of punctuation—a period (full stop), an exclamation point, or a question mark. And you are right, it should be three sentences, and that is why each

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In my opinion, people who use a lot of dashes, both long and short, don't follow a lot of strict rules. Instead of taking the time to express their meaning carefully to make the reader's job easy, they often leave the reader to do the work of interpretation.

Here is an interesting article -- on dashes -- you might like to read.

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